Tredyffrin Township's Police Department Community Learning ...

Photo caption: NRA instructor and international shooting champion Mike Alexander?s presentation on gun safety was part of Tredyffrin Township Police Department community learning series. Alexander also works with the Tredyffrin Township Police Department in training and gun safety. ALAN THOMAS/Main Line Media News

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NRA instructor and international shooting champion Mike Alexander asked the dozen-or-so Tredyffrin Township citizens, ?Why are you here??

One person said he was contemplating purchasing a firearm. Another said, ?I have firearms, but I?ve never been trained.?

There was a hunter who had no handguns, a casual shooter and a woman who was thinking of buying a gun for protection.

?Half of U.S. households have firearms in them,? Alexander said to start his hour-plus-long presentation on gun safety. ?And how many have kids in them?? was his follow-up question.

Alexander?s presentation was part of Tredyffrin Township Police Department community learning series. The monthly sessions have been on topics as diverse as identity theft and Megan?s law, but all with a law-enforcement, legal or safety issue attached. Gun Safety fit right in.

Alexander also works with the Tredyffrin Township Police Department in training and gun safety.

Alexander demonstrated gun-safety essentials with an orange plastic hand-gun replica that he treated as though it were loaded, never pointing it anywhere but at an angle toward the floor and with his trigger finger lying straight along the barrel.

?We don?t even have to have training in this state,? Alexander said and a little later, ?I?m around half-a-million rounds [of ammunition] a year. I get nervous when I?m around casual owners.?

The four universal firearms safety rules, three already alluded to, above, and the fourth, ?Be sure of your target and what is beyond it,? led Alexander into handling firearms safely and storing them safely, apparently too often a compromise between rendering the firearm inoperable and having quick access to it.

Alexander explained how to create a situation, using one of an array of special lockable cases, in which a firearm is available only to the owner, while being inaccessible to others. ?Hiding it is not safe,? he said. Cases that read the owner?s fingerprints or that respond to a code number quickly punched into a keypad can be checked out quickly on Cabela?s Web site, Alexander advised. Continued...

A cable gun-lock ?comes with every gun you buy,? Alexander noted while demonstrating how the cable fit through the barrel of a pistol or through the action of a rifle.

Children and firearms was Alexander?s final topic. ?Fifty-fifty chance there?s a gun in anyone?s house,? he reminded the audience. The main thing, ?Talk to children,? he said, advising open and honest conversation rather than any ?Stay out of the gun closet!? version of the ?talk.?

?It?s critical for a child to know what to do (?Stop; don?t touch; leave the area; tell an adult) if she encounters a firearm of any type,? was the message.

In fact, the heart of Alexander?s presentation was the one that Project Child Safe, a nationally funded program promoting gun safety, and the NRA?s Eddie Eagle GunSafe program sponsor, focusing on parents? responsibility, talking with children and understanding toy guns and real guns.

?The NRA?s a big organization, if you didn?t know that,? Alexander said.

Attendees received a free gun lock, provided through the Federal grant that sponsored the program.

NRA instructor and international shooting champion Mike Alexander asked the dozen-or-so Tredyffrin Township citizens, ?Why are you here??

One person said he was contemplating purchasing a firearm. Another said, ?I have firearms, but I?ve never been trained.?

There was a hunter who had no handguns, a casual shooter and a woman who was thinking of buying a gun for protection.

?Half of U.S. households have firearms in them,? Alexander said to start his hour-plus-long presentation on gun safety. ?And how many have kids in them?? was his follow-up question.

Alexander?s presentation was part of Tredyffrin Township Police Department community learning series. The monthly sessions have been on topics as diverse as identity theft and Megan?s law, but all with a law-enforcement, legal or safety issue attached. Gun Safety fit right in.

Alexander also works with the Tredyffrin Township Police Department in training and gun safety.

Alexander demonstrated gun-safety essentials with an orange plastic hand-gun replica that he treated as though it were loaded, never pointing it anywhere but at an angle toward the floor and with his trigger finger lying straight along the barrel.

?We don?t even have to have training in this state,? Alexander said and a little later, ?I?m around half-a-million rounds [of ammunition] a year. I get nervous when I?m around casual owners.?

The four universal firearms safety rules, three already alluded to, above, and the fourth, ?Be sure of your target and what is beyond it,? led Alexander into handling firearms safely and storing them safely, apparently too often a compromise between rendering the firearm inoperable and having quick access to it.

Alexander explained how to create a situation, using one of an array of special lockable cases, in which a firearm is available only to the owner, while being inaccessible to others. ?Hiding it is not safe,? he said. Cases that read the owner?s fingerprints or that respond to a code number quickly punched into a keypad can be checked out quickly on Cabela?s Web site, Alexander advised.

A cable gun-lock ?comes with every gun you buy,? Alexander noted while demonstrating how the cable fit through the barrel of a pistol or through the action of a rifle.

Children and firearms was Alexander?s final topic. ?Fifty-fifty chance there?s a gun in anyone?s house,? he reminded the audience. The main thing, ?Talk to children,? he said, advising open and honest conversation rather than any ?Stay out of the gun closet!? version of the ?talk.?

?It?s critical for a child to know what to do (?Stop; don?t touch; leave the area; tell an adult) if she encounters a firearm of any type,? was the message.

In fact, the heart of Alexander?s presentation was the one that Project Child Safe, a nationally funded program promoting gun safety, and the NRA?s Eddie Eagle GunSafe program sponsor, focusing on parents? responsibility, talking with children and understanding toy guns and real guns.

?The NRA?s a big organization, if you didn?t know that,? Alexander said.

Attendees received a free gun lock, provided through the Federal grant that sponsored the program.

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